As the inquest into Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar’s death entered its fifth day in an Irish courtroom today,her stressed husband excused himself from attending the hearing.

“It’s been a stressful week for him today and he’s asked to be excused. We will explain that to the coroner. So he won’t be here today. He’ll be here again on Wednesday,” his

solicitor Gerard O’Donnell said at the Galway Courthouse

today.

Praveen Halappanavar has been a constant witness to testimonies from staff and doctors of University Hospital

Galway,where his 17-week pregnant wife died following a

miscarriage last October.

“While he’s very composed at all times in the court,it is very,very stressful for him to hear all the details. He’s taking the view that he’s looking for the truth,” added O’Connell.

Halappanavar’s senior counsel,Eugene Gleeson,told coroner Ciaran McLoughlin that his client was not showing the

court any disrespect but was “overwrought”.Dr McLoughlin said he understood.

Earlier,the coroner heard about a three-hour delay in

transferring the blood samples of 31-year-old Savita to the

laboratory for analysis had no impact on the course of her

infection.

Irish media reports,however,highlighted that Dr McLoughlin described the delay as “another risk factor”. The samples showed that Savita was infected with an E.Coli ESBL (extended spectrum beta lactamase),which is particularly difficult to treat with antibiotics.

Dr Keady said it was very uncommon for maternity patients to suffer ESBL infections and stressed that Savita was on the appropriate antibiotics and subsequent tests showed that they were effective in clearing all bacteria from her system.

The inquest also heard from ICU staff nurse Jacinta Gately as she gave evidence yesterday of having been with Savita throughout her final hours on the night of October 27 and the morning of October 28,2012,when she was declared

dead.

“Within minutes of commencing CPR (Cardiopulmonary

resuscitation),I went out to find Mr Halappanavar to let him

know what was happening,that his wife’s heart had stopped and that we had started CPR,” she recalled.

Savita’s 34-year-old engineer husband has accepted an

apology from another member of hospital staff,midwife Ann Maria Burke,who admitted making a comment about denying Savita a termination as Ireland was a “Catholic country”.